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historic spots in wisconsin w a titus the helena shot-tower up and down the river went they in and out among its islands cleared its bed of root and sand-bar dragged the dead trees from its channel made its passage safe and certain made a pathway for the people — longfellow in territorial and pre-territorial days wisconsin's centei of population was in the geographic angle bounded on two sides by the mississippi and wisconsin rivers and compris ing the present counties of iowa grant and lafayette this condition was directly due to the lead deposits of the region away back in the period of the french occupation the lead mines of southwestern wisconsin were well known both to the savage tribes and to the white traders and ex plorers it is not surprising that when american occupation became an accomplished fact men with a love for frontier life and the lure of adventure swarmed into the lead region from the older sections of the country nor is it remarkable that among these were men of more than average ability and ambition the lead region has to its credit such names as colonel william s hamilton son of alexander hamilton j g percival the poet-geologist general henry dodge who later became one of the territorial governors and a united states senator nelson dewey first governor of the state dr giddings nephew of joshua r giddings and cadwallader c washburn later governor of wisconsin and one of that famous family which had three members in the united states congress at the same time new england

This issue includes the reflections of an abolitionist newspaper editor, the recollections of Republican politician Nils Pederson Haugen, and an overview of threshing and Norwegian agricultural practices.

Historic Spots in Wisconsin: Helena Shot-Tower. This short article describes the efforts of Green Bay entrepreneur Daniel Whitney (1795-1862) to locate a plant for manufacturing lead bullets near the Wisconsin lead mining region. It recounts how he formed a company in 1830 that bought a bluff on the Wisconsin River in Iowa Co., dug a shaft through it to river level, erected a tower above the shaft, and in 1833 commenced dropping molten lead into cold water far below in order to make spherical bullets. It includes a long description of the facility by a visitor in 1838 and summarizes its business history, including its ownership from 1845 to 1861 by future governor C.C. Washburn (1818-1882) and its eventual demise when the railroad bypassed Helena and the Panic of 1857 depressed the local economy. The article concludes by outlining the site's later use as a resort, a religious summer school operated by Rev. Jenkin Lloyd-Jones (1843-1918), and a state park (1922-). (7 pages)

historic spots in wisconsin w a titus the helena shot-tower up and down the river went they in and out among its islands cleared its bed of root and sand-bar dragged the dead trees from its channel made its passage safe and certain made a pathway for the people — longfellow in territorial and pre-territorial days wisconsin's centei of population was in the geographic angle bounded on two sides by the mississippi and wisconsin rivers and compris ing the present counties of iowa grant and lafayette this condition was directly due to the lead deposits of the region away back in the period of the french occupation the lead mines of southwestern wisconsin were well known both to the savage tribes and to the white traders and ex plorers it is not surprising that when american occupation became an accomplished fact men with a love for frontier life and the lure of adventure swarmed into the lead region from the older sections of the country nor is it remarkable that among these were men of more than average ability and ambition the lead region has to its credit such names as colonel william s hamilton son of alexander hamilton j g percival the poet-geologist general henry dodge who later became one of the territorial governors and a united states senator nelson dewey first governor of the state dr giddings nephew of joshua r giddings and cadwallader c washburn later governor of wisconsin and one of that famous family which had three members in the united states congress at the same time new england